October 2011 - Advaita Ashrama

Reality as the Basis of Plurality
A genuine sense of pluralism cannot be understood
unless it is grounded on true spirituality,
which is distinguished from mere institutionalized
piety. It is based on universal love, and if one
has genuine love for someone, say a child’s love
for the mother, one cannot hurt the mother; if
this be extended to others, then only true spirituality
and plurality can be realized. From the
standpoint of Swamiji’s approach there is neither
justification for religious conflict nor for
reducing all other religions to one’s own, much
less for excluding other religions as not genuine.
Pluralism states that in all forms of religion
people are approaching the same ultimate Reality.
Swamiji’s approach to plurality of religions
may be taken as a ground for both a commitment
to Truth and a possibility for different interpretations
about the same Truth in order to suit the
various sociocultural and historical contexts. He
says: ‘It is urged that even in physical body and
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social classification, absolute sameness would
produce natural death and social death. Absolute
sameness of thought and feeling would produce
mental decay and degeneration.’ 7 He also argues
in favour of modifying the ritualistic aspects of
religion in accordance with the necessity of the
changing times. He is against any kind of superstition;
when he speaks of religion, he advocates
elimination of certain religious practices that are
not based on reason.
From this it appears that for Swamiji religious
disagreements are due to narrow, selfish, dogmatic,
fanatical motives. He thus discards and
strongly condemns sectarianism and bigotry. By
universal religion he understands an outlook of
religious diversity. According to him, it is neither
necessary nor possible to impose one’s viewpoint
upon other. His attempt is not to preach
a universal religion by putting together the essential
elements of all the different religions, he
rather emphasizes that Truth is not confined to
PB October 2011
image: ‘Religious HaRmony ii’, by lee Xin li